State-of-the-art dialysis centre opens

One of the UK’s biggest renal dialysis unit has opened its doors to its first patients.

The state-of-the-art Norfolk and Norwich Kidney Centre began dialysis treatments on Monday (2 March) after NNUH staff moved from the Jack Pryor Unit to Francis Way in Bowthorpe.

The Trust has created the purpose-built unit over the last six months with partners Diaverum, which is a national specialist provider, to set up the expanded service.

The last dialysis treatments at the Jack Pryor Unit ended on Saturday night and staff worked around the clock to be ready to see their first patients in Bowthorpe on Monday morning.

The new unit has 39 dialysis stations – ten extra than at its former home on the NNUH site – and has a dedicated home therapies unit where patients can be trained to have their dialysis at home. It also has capacity to deliver dialysis for holidaymakers and visitors to Norfolk.

Heather Moss, Senior Sister, said: “I am so proud of the team that we managed to relocate the dialysis unit between 10.30pm on Saturday to 6am on Monday. The new unit is incredible, it flows really well and the new dialysis machines deliver better treatments for our patients. It has been such a pleasure working with Diaverum on this project.”

The Norfolk and Norwich Kidney Centre is exclusively for local patients requiring dialysis and the renal dialysis unit at Cromer and District Hospital will remain on its current site. Some renal dialysis treatment will still take place within NNUH for emergency cases, those too unwell to attend the community based service and for chronic dialysis patients when they come into hospital for other treatments.

Dr Tim Gilbert, Chief of Medicine Division at NNUH, said: “The new unit is a fantastic example of partnership working and is the result of hours of dedicated and hard work from the renal team. It really is something to behold and there is a huge amount of pride, enthusiasm and excitement from the team about this development.”

Michael Hartnett, Managing Director of Diaverum, said: “It has been a real pleasure working with the team at NNUH to develop the new facility. They are a credit to the Trust; their dedication and professionalism is fantastic.

We have managed several projects in recent years to re-locate dialysis services away from hospital sites into community settings, and we are confident that the change will be positive for all users of the new facility, patients and staff alike. We look forward to continuing to work with the Trust over the coming years to deliver a first class dialysis service for the region.”